KOLKATA: The Santragachhi station premises looked cleaner on Saturday evening, thanks to the efforts of South Eastern Railway (SER) personnel who carried out raids for nearly six hours during the day and hauled up 100 passengers for spitting. The offenders were fined and SER ended up collecting Rs 13,000.“The team of 10 train ticket examiners was led by an inspector. The checks started at 8am and continued till 2pm. By fining the litterbugs, we wanted to send a message to others that spitting or dumping garbage will not be tolerated by the railways. Such raids will continue, not only at Santragachhi, but at other stations as well,” said SER CPRO Sanjoy Ghosh.The surprise raid seems to have worked as word spread fast and people decided to keep their pan-masala or chewing tobacco inside their mouths till they reached a dustbin. There was less garbage on the tracks as well.Under railway rules, a person can be fined anything between Rs 100 and Rs 500 for spitting. While some offenders were made to pay Rs 100, others who attempted to resist, had to shell out much more.“Tobacco stains not only look bad and are hard to get rid of, but the habit of spitting in public is unhygienic. We are sure that things will improve after such raids. All station staff have also been told to intervene whenever somebody commits the mistake,” another official said.

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